Obama plan won’t do

March 2, 2012

For all his claims to want higher taxes only on millionaires, President Barack Obama really wants to go far down the income ladder to avoid reducing the cost of government. He made that clear in proposing a $3.8 trillion spending plan for fiscal 2013.

Obama insists he wants to shave deficit spending, but the details of his plan show he has no such intention. It calls for just $4 trillion in deficit reduction during the next decade. That is an average of $400 billion a year - a fraction of the total deficit.

And, as is usual in Washington, Obama doesn't want to get started immediately. His 2013 request is for $3.8 trillion in spending - at or slightly above current levels.

Instead of reducing the cost of government, Obama wants $1.5 trillion in higher taxes. That would leave actual cost-cutting at a puny $250 billion a year.

And it is not just millionaires the president wants to burn. Any household with an annual income over $250,000 would be hit with tax increases under his plan.

Now, $250,000 is a lot of money - but it isn't millionaire status by a long shot. These days, that income is considered high middle-class in many regions of the country.

Congress should reject Obama's plan, which amounts to a strategy in disguise to continue massive, irresponsible growth in government.